That may be great for the buyer but for those growing plants they like the farmers are probably not getting a fair price for their product, so if you want to squeeze the grower out of the market fair enough, suspect their not irish grown plants.

I'm afraid I haven't got the money to go to garden centres and I grow most of my stuff from seed. The soft fruit bushes and roses are from Warwickshire and yes the other things are from Holland. As I said I haven't got the money to go to garden centres so I get my stuff at Aldi and Lidl, and I don't think I'm on my own.

Im not criticizing you, just making people aware, remember the 10cent carrots who are the winners here long term, In garden centres its not the growers who make the profit its the owners of the garden centres who ever made the rule they must get 100% mark up, it certainly was not the growers, they could reduce the prices and still make a profit. Jee another can of worms i've opened up, ah well good debate is never to be shied away from. Enjoy the growing season,

Plants sold in Aldi and Lidl are cheap in many ways and for a variety of reasons. For example, I've yet to see the staff in the former watering the plants or carrying out the standard plant care duties.
I bought pepper and aubergine plants in Lidl a few years ago. Each had five fruit growing on them. These were the only fruit I got from the plants despite the care I gave them.
I've found their plants to be a false ecomony; caveat emptor!
If you're looking to save money on soft fruit bushes I suggest skipping the middleman and going straight to the source. English's in Wexford cost about half the price of good garden centres when I bought some soft fruit bushes a few years ago. They'd a printed catalog back then but are on the web now: www.englishsfruitnursery.ie

Plants sold in Aldi and Lidl are cheap in many ways and for a variety of reasons. For example, I've yet to see the staff in the former watering the plants or carrying out the standard plant care duties.

Thats why I go on the day they start.
Actually my cousin used to work in Aldi as a handyman in Claremorris and he used to water the plants daily.

I couldn't recommend English's highly enough, even though they are neighbours of mine. Know them all since childhood, a lovely family. I have bought loads from them over the years and never a problem and the advice is freeflowing. I remember recommending them to someone on this site a few months back who was looking for a rare type of apple tree, don't know if they were successful or not though._________________“It’s my field. It’s my child. I nursed it. I nourished it. I saw to its every want. I dug the rocks out of it with my bare hands and I made a living thing of it!”

I bought bare root apple trees about 8 years ago (When my eldest kids were small) from "one of these places mentioned at the beginning of this topic", supposed to be a number of different varieties i.e. brambly seedling etc. They turned out to be all the same red dessert (not very good) apples. I'm in the process of replacing most of them at the moment.

What really ticks me off about all this is the time which has been wasted i.e. my kids have to wait another 2 to 3 years before the new apple trees start to produce fruit. My mother, who is a keen Gardner, advised me against buying these at the time, I really regret not taking her advice.

If possible go to a local garden centre and but quality, they will also be able to advise what grows best in your area._________________Xeyedsheep

I bought some root cuttings and summer-flowering bulbs in Aldi the other week as they were just in, looked very fresh and were cheap. I potted them up straightaway and they seem to be doing ok. The main attraction for me was that it's hard to get a decent selection of perennials, where I live, except when they are in flower and costly.

I now have 33 pots containing kniphofia, eryngium, gypsophilia, convallaria, physalis, echinacea and liatris for a less than 12 euro, if my arithmetic is correct. Even if they don't all do well, it's not a lot of money, considering any two plants would cost about €15 in full growth in their flowering season.

I quite agree. I bought a load of dahlias last week. I thought there was 1 in a packet. In fact there's 3. Everywhere in UK are basking in the sunshine whilst I've sat in my girl shed potting the dahlias on. The temperature has been 7 and we've had rain all day.

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